About me

I'm James, an accessibility specialist and developer, and currently Head of Accessibility at Jadu. I'm passionate about creating inclusive digital experiences and supporting others in learning how to do the same. I'm from Yorkshire, married, with two kids and a dog.

If you'd like to know more about my background, please then keep on reading.

My background

From a young age, writing code fascinated me. I spent hours copying line after line of BASIC from the pages of Zzap!64. I still remember the anticipation as I finally typed RUN, hit Return and hoped for the best. In my teens, I developed an interest in building and fixing PC's along with dabbling in Visual Basic.

My journey into web development

In the early 2000s, I took my first steps into the world of web development after the design agency my employer used went out of business. After learning the basics of HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL in my spare time, I was given the chance to redesign and build a new site and customer portal to replace the old buggy one. Here's where my passion for the web truly blossomed.

Since then, I've worked in various front-end-related roles, but I found my current home in 2014 when I joined Jadu.

Discovering accessibility

In 2008, I stumbled into the world of accessibility at a local tech meetup where I attended a talk on the subject, a topic I was only vaguely familiar with at the time. It pains me to this day that I can't remember the speaker's name, but I do remember having a significant lightbulb moment when they mentioned that, on average, 1 in 5 people have some form of disability and may face barriers when using the web.

To me, this was huge. As a developer, why would I want to create something that 1 in 5 may struggle to use? This experience led to a fascination with web accessibility, motivating me to learn everything I could to make my sites and web applications as accessible as possible.

Now, in 2025, I'm just as passionate and interested in accessibility as I was back then. There are many things I love about accessibility, from seeing firsthand the difference it can make to people's lives, to the technical challenges of building accessible experiences, complex components, and interfaces. There's always something new to learn and explore.

Jadu

Jadu, in case you aren't familiar, is a software company and creative agency known for its low-code web platform used by hundreds of local governments and organisations, and for building websites relied on by millions of people worldwide.

In 2014, I joined the Design Systems team at Jadu, where I worked with some amazingly talented people to develop Jadu's design systems and component libraries. These reusable components power the UIs of the platform and the websites built on top of it. There are many fantastic and interesting challenges to be found working with enterprise-level SaaS software, especially regarding accessibility.

Over time, I became the "unofficial accessibility guy", eventually moving into a dedicated position as accessibility lead, overseeing accessibility across the platform and company. In 2023, I was promoted to Head of Accessibility and started to grow a small but passionate accessibility team.

These days, my work spans multiple products, including CRM, CMS, form builders, and AI software, as well as design systems and browser extensions. No day is quite the same, but it's generally a mix of collaborating with teams to embed accessibility into products and processes, training designers, developers, testers, and customers on accessibility, conducting audits, testing, and helping to implement fixes. I'm still hands-on with code, while also ensuring the wider team can deliver modern, accessible interfaces and websites that everyone can use.

Why I created this site

When I first discovered accessibility, it wasn't always easy to find resources, examples, and technical information for creating accessible code. This site is my contribution to that, sharing content and guides on accessibility discovered through experience and user feedback - tested on a platform used by millions of people worldwide. So, if you are new to accessibility, or just want someone else's opinion, I hope you find this site useful.